Welcome back to Design In Focus, our editor-led digest of local design trends. This month, Homes Editor Mary Jo Bowling ushers us through San Francisco and Northern California's design scene. Explore how designers and architects are interpreting the beauty of the landscape into awe-inspiring residences from the beach to the mountains. Built by dreamers and doers, the land's rich history informs a cross-cultural collection of inimitable interiors.
Built By The Dreamers
Gold diggers (literal ones) started pouring into San Francisco in 1848, transforming a sleepy outpost nestled among the sand dunes into a bustling boomtown featuring hastily constructed homes, hotels, saloons, gambling halls, and the type of establishments we don’t cover in the pages of LUXE. The harbor was so crowded with ships, city leaders eventually sank them and used the wreckage as landfill to expand into the San Francisco Bay. (Fun fact: Today, those sailing vessels are sometimes uncovered during building projects.) It was one of the largest mass migrations in the history of the United States, and from that day to this, construction hasn’t stopped.
Back then, it took a certain type of grit to abandon an established life to seek an existence in a landscape so mysterious and unknown. Today, people who settle here have a similar resiliency and an optimistic mentality. Northern Californians often believe in the impossible, tend to embrace what’s new and next and champion difference. That nature leads to architecture and design that is as daring, uncommon and beautiful as the gorgeous landscape.
Designer Spotlight: Alicia Cheung
Northern California is an amalgamation of cultures, and those global influences play out in the region's interiors. "The Bay Area is a crossroads of cultures and that diversity shows up in how people want their homes to feel," shares designer Alicia Cheung. "We often blend global influences with local craftsmanship, creating spaces that feel personal, soulful and deeply connected to the community."
Read more from Cheung and other top designers in our LinkedIn newsletter.
"People are really responding to small custom touches," designer Alicia Cheung notes, "whether it’s a built-in niche, a custom sofa with all the passementerie, or patterned window treatments." See: the charming guest bedroom nook by Cheung featured here.
A Closer Look At The Trends Shaping Interiors
Seamless Transitions Between Indoors + Out
I recently commented to LUXE Editor-in-Chief Jill Cohen that the homes we feature are so open, you could stand on the front lawn and (if your pitch is good) throw a baseball completely through to the backyard. More and more, we are seeing dwellings with oversize glass doors that fold, stack, lift or slide completely away to extinguish any barrier between inside and out. And if that happens on one, two, or even three sides of a room, all the better.
Personalization Is Top Of Mind
I’m also seeing a desire for extreme personalization. People are making way and allowing room for their most cherished desires and pursuits. For many, this is the definition of luxury. I was recently talking to Geoffrey De Sousa and Erik Hughes, the men behind the showroom De Sousa Hughes and thought-leaders in this market, and they both commented that nothing can replicate the feeling of having something made just for you. Designers and homeowners agree, and the houses we feature are filled with bespoke elements or carefully curated pieces reflecting the people who live in them. So far this year, we’ve featured the home office of a person who loves to fish that’s adorned with a wallpaper decorated with lure motifs; a residence awash in color and bedecked with botanic imagery for a woman who loves flowers; and a waterside dwelling whose midcentury spirit was carefully preserved and enhanced for a couple who champion modernism.
Embrace The View
I’ve lived in San Francisco a long while now, and all that time my primary occupation (both professional and personal) has been looking at houses. There is a long list of homes I’ve admired from the outside, and on lucky occasions I get to see the interiors when a designer presents a dwelling for publication consideration. That is what happened with Kendall Wilkinson's Nob Hill project that was featured on the cover of our May/June issue. I can’t count the number of times I’ve walked by this dwelling, and when I saw the living room, I gasped out loud. People in San Francisco love a glorious view, and the one from this living room that has a vista including the bay, the Bay Bridge, the Transamerica Pyramid, and Alcatraz is about as good as it gets. It’s hard to top it, but Wilkinson managed to enhance it with her graceful furniture and art selections.
Artwork by Willi Siber catches the eye in the dining area of this San Francisco town house designed by Kendall Wilkinson.
Designer Spotlight: Melanie Love
Northern California homeowners are embracing personalization. "People want homes that feel like them, not like a catalog," shares designer Melanie Love. Whether adding a touch of whimsy to new builds or restoring old houses with vintage charm intact, Love's clients are all about their homes' intrinsic character. "Color and pattern are having a real moment. Instead of stripping away character, clients are leaning into it—embracing wood paneling, original windows and all those perfectly imperfect details," she says.
Read more from Love and other top designers in our LinkedIn newsletter.
This kids' bathroom by Melanie Love goes all in on color.
Trends Across The Region
Popular Color Palettes
I’ve been delighted by all the “new” colors I’m seeing for kitchens. I’ve spied a lot of sunny yellow (like in this charming classic home by EJ Interior Design) and blushing pink cabinetry in recent submissions. Coming up, I’ll be presenting a cooking space with cranberry-red storage to the team.
Designing Forever Homes
In this moment, people seem to be focusing on one of two things. I’m seeing many owners choosing to invest in the home they are in, making it a “forever” abode. As public relations pro Rich Pedine recently told me, “This means a lot of kitchen and bath remodels.” I’m also sensing a spirit of joie de vivre in this market, with consumers deciding that now is the time to buy or build the place they’ve been dreaming of living.
A Svenskt Tenn wallcovering wraps around this kitchen by EJ Interior Design in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Benjamin Moore’s Winter Solstice and Sun Valley enliven the kitchen’s perimeter cabinetry and island, respectively.
Follow This Designer's Substack
Interior designer Chloe Redmond Warner publishes her design philosophies on a Substack called RAD Minimag, and I’m here for it. The gems she imparts range from practical to hilarious. A recent post about bedrooms includes a list of six suggestions for what makes a great sleep sanctuary including Legna sheets (she notes that, although they are “eye-wateringly expensive,” they are also so soft they “almost feel like water”) and Tala lightbulbs (which she deems better than incandescent). Read it, and you’ll weep—from laughing.
Chloe Redmond Warner enveloped her Palm Beach, Florida Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse space in Peony Chintz, a floral fabric that is just one of the darling textiles in the designer's RAD Goods collection.
Design Organizations Supporting The San Francisco Community
In the Bay Area, we are in the age of great organizations with dynamic programming, and I’ve been honored to partner with these groups on behalf of LUXE. Here are three that are making waves in the market:
ASID California Peninsula Chapter
This organization is celebrating its 50th anniversary this fall, and earlier this year they were designated the American Society of Interior Designers’ chapter of the year. Their leadership is dynamic, and their programming runs the gamut from design education to philanthropic good works to fun parties. Coming up on October 7th, I’ll be moderating the ASID CaPen panel “California’s Design Future” at Pietra Fina. (You can RSVP for that event here.)
Asian American Pacific Islander Design Alliance
This group works to create collaboration between and visibility for its members in the design industry, and a local chapter was recently founded. The current leaders, President Alicia Cheung and Vice President Noz Nozawa, are making the group’s presence known with engaging events and compelling social media posts. (I’ll be conducting a live interview with Nozawa on October 9th at City Lights that you can RSVP to here.)
Read an exclusive interview with Cheung and other top designers in our LinkedIn newsletter.
ICAA Northern California Chapter
The local chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art hosts an array of programs that would tempt any design mind (I recently attended an inspiring presentation on great American and British country homes at Filoli). The Julia Morgan Awards Dinner, where they honor classically designed projects) is a not-to-be-missed event.
This Nozawa-designed abode in San Francisco features a dining table topped by an Astele chandelier draped with a calla lily chain by Mister Lee Designs.
Sneak Peek: What's On Tap At LUXE
I’m enthusiastic about the features in our next two issues. We will be covering a masterpiece in the mountains of Tahoe; an elegant retreat in the wine country; and a sophisticated residence in Hillsborough. Plus, we're celebrating the magazine's 20th anniversary this November! In short, we will look at great design across the local map, and beyond.
About The Author
Like many of the people she covers, Mary Jo Bowling has had a passion for interior design and architecture from a young age. She grew up to become a design writer and editor and a serial remodeler. Mary Jo has written about beautiful homes around the country for magazines like Sunset, Better Homes & Gardens, San Francisco and California Home + Design; as well as websites such as Houzz and Curbed. For the last several years, she’s focused on homes in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest in her role as homes editor for LUXE Interiors + Design. She lives in the Bay Area with her family where she just finished restoring a 106-year-old farmhouse and is busy remodeling a condo constructed in 1978.
